William p



W. P. WHITE May 20 1924.

CLOSURE Original Filed July 11, 1915 INVENTQR TTORNEY Reissued May 20, 1924.

UNITED STATES Re. 15,842 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. WHITE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T ANCHOR CA? t CLOSURE CORPORATION, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CLOSURE.

Original 110. 1,134,069, dated March 30, 1915, Serial No. 778,486, filed July 11, 1818. Application for reissue filed April 15, 1918. Serial No. 228.775.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM P. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to closures for, the pur ose of sealing containers in the form of bott es or ars in order to preserve the contents thereof.

One object of the invention is to. provide a sim le closure which may be easily applied to a liottle or jar and which will effect a hermetic seal; another object is to provide a closure which will effect such a seal even though it may be carelessly applied to the container; another object is to provide a closure which may be held upon the container either by atmospheric pressure or by.

a mechanical clamp.

comprising a closure having a skirt extending over a portion of the side wall of the container in such manner that atmospheric pressure on the closure pulls the skirt of the closure inwardly over the mouth of the container.

A still further object of the present invention is an article of manufacture comprising a package as specified and wherein a gasket is arranged between the skirt of the cap and as the side wall of the container in such manner that atmospheric pressure draws the gasket material ov r the edge of the container to form a her etic seal.

A still further object of the present invention is an article of manufacture comprising a package of the character specified wherein atmospheric pressure on the top 'of the closure cups the central portion thereof and draws inwardly a portion of theclosure over the mouth of the container whereby a hermetic seal is formed between the skirt of the closure and the side wall of the mouth of the container.

I Still other objects will appear in the 'fol lowing specification and'claims.

Referrin to the drawings: Figure 1 represents a p ain view of the closure. Fig. 2 represents an elevation of the closure and part of the container in section showing how the cap is applied; Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 showing the cap sealed in position by atmospheric pressure; and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation'showing the cap held in place by the mechanical clamp.

The container 10 as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 is preferably of glass or vitreous material an seal is made, formed into a portion of a sphericalsurface, this surface being a spherical zone. The closure is shown at 12 having a shoulder 13 and a curved outer part 14. lVithin the part 14 and bearing against the shoulder 13 is a packin gasket 15 of any suitable sealing material. The curvature of the part 14 is such that when the cap is sprung over the s herical zone of the container as shown in ig. 3, it assumes a position concentric with the zone; the outer extremity of the curved part 14 as indicated in Fig. 2 is normally somewhat contracted so that the curve does not represent a s herical zone before pressure is applied to t e cap. The resilience of the ca is sufiicient, however, to stretch outwar the outer edge of part 14 so that when the cap and gasket 15 are sealed upon the part 11 of the container, all three parts, 11, 14 and .15, are concentric with one another.

When the cap is applied and the package is sealed under a vacuum as indicated Fig. 2 the atmospheric pressure forces down the central part of the cap and causes a direct downward pressure upon the container at the upper part of the sealing zone.

The downward atmospheric pressure on the central part of the cap cups this portion of the cap and because of the resilience specified the part 14 or upper portion of the skirt of the ca is drawn inwardly toward the middle 0 the cap; this action draws the gasket 15 inwardly and over the edge of the container and compresses the gasket tightly between the cap and wall of the mouth of the container. Furthermore, resilience and shape of the cap is such that it conforms to irregular glass and eliminates the possibilities of improper seals on'tumblers or containers that are slightly out of round. Pres sure is also brought to bear by the cap upon the container at the lower part of the zone due to the springing of the cap over this partof the container. These two forces combined cause a pressure to be distributed over has its upper edge 11, where the effective hermetic seal.

the entire'breadth of the gasket 15, thereby making a very effective seal.

The shoulder 13 operates not only to hold the gasket 15 in place, but it also serves to center the cap upon the container to which it is applied. It will be noticed that as the contacting surfaces of the seal are all in the form of concentric spherical zones it does not matter whether the cap be applied 1. squarely to the sealin surface of the conproviding a suitable container of glass or the like .which has substantially incompressible side walls as shown at in Figures 2 to 4 inclusive; then providing a cap of; sumciently resilient material to insure a certain amount of spring, or give, in the cap to enable the cap to more readily conform to the glass cor tamer, and which cap is rovided with a depending skirt that exten downwardly over a portion of the, side wall of the mouth of the container. Preferably gasket material is provided between the skirt of the cap and the mouth of the conl tainer in order to fill up irregularities be- -"tween the said skirt and the vent leakage of air under the sai wall to precap, although it is possible to dis with the gasket under certain conditions. After the cap has been placed in position on the mouth of the contanisr a vacuum is efiblisliled in the container car i out e sea 'ng operation in a chaihber o i which the air ma be exhausted. After the air is exhau atmospheric pressure is gradually readmitted to the chamber and t e atmospheric pressure on the cap ulls the upper portion of the skirt inwa y over the mouth of the container due to the cupipling of'thecentral portion "of the cap. is action pulls the cap tight] against the mouth of the contamer an produces a sli ht relative movement between the cap an the side wall or mouth of the container whereby the gasket material is brought into very intimate con- -tact with the edge or side wall of the, container and the cap, thereby producing an Under certain conditions it is desirable to use mechanical means to prevent the cap from being displaced from the mouthof the container when the air is being exhausted and to retain the cap seated in position when air is being readmitted to the sealing chamber.

The seal may also be effected by packing the goods hot and then placing the capthereon and the vacuum formed on cooling of the goods is suflicient to seat and seal the cap on the container. Where hot packing is doneit may be desirable to hold the cap in place by screw rings or the like.

In Fig. 4 the cap is shown in connection with a mechanical clamp which takes the form in this example of a threaded ring 16 which engages a thread 17 formed upon the container in a manner common to fruit jars in the prior art; in this case the cap 12 is applied to the container and the threaded ring 16 is screwed upon the container and thereby clamps the ca and gasket in place to effect a seal. 11 this case, as in the other illustrations shown, it is immaterial whetheror not the cap 12 be placed exactly central and square upon the container as the concentric parts will effect the seal whether the cap happens to be straight or askew.

While the preferred form of my invention has been shown and described for purposes of illustration I desire it to. be understood that my invention may be included in, and

practiced by use of, structures other than those specifically disclosed herewith.

What is claimed:

1. In combination, a container having a spherical zone sealing surface, a closure having a spherical zone sealin surface, the inner edge of the closure zone icing formed into a centering Shoulder and a gasket adapted to be interposed between the container and the closure.

2. In combination, spherical zone sealing surface, a closure hav ing a spherical zone sealing surface, the inner ed e of the closure zone being formed into a s lioulder, a gasket adapted to be interposed between the container and the closure, and a screw clamp adapted to engage the closure and force it downward upon the container.

3. In combination, a container having a spherical zone sealing surface, a closure having a spherical zone sealing surface, the inner'edge of the closure zone being formed into a shoulder, a gasket adapted to be interpomd between the container and the closure, and a screw ring enga 'n threads u n the container and adapte w en screwe down to engage the closure and forceit downward upon the sealing lip of the container.

.4. In combination, a container having a spherical zone sealing surface, a closure having a spherical zone sealing surface, the inner edge of the closure zone being formed into a shoulder, a gasket adapted to be interposed between the container and the closure, and a screw clam havin an annular portion concentric wit the c osure zone and adapted to engage the same.

5. In combination, a container having a a. container having a sealing surface, a closure having a sealing surface which before exhausting the air from the container is onl in partial engage-' ment with the correspon ing container sealing surface, the closure bein flexible under the influence of a vacuum w ereby the flexing of the closure materially increases the area of sealing engagement between the closure and container.

6. In combination, a container having a sealing zone, and a closure having a sealing surface which before exhausting the air from the container is only in partial engagement with the corresponding container sealing zone, the closure being flexible under the influence of a vacuum whereby the flexing of the closure materially increases the area of the sealing engagement between the closure and the container.

7. In combination, a container having a sealing zone, and a closure adapted to be seated on said sealing zone by producing a vacuum within the container, said closure having a sealing surface which is onlyin partial engagement with the container before the air is exhausted from the container, said closure also being flexible under air pressure when the vacuum is produced in the container to draw said surface into engagement with the sealing zone and to thereby increase the area of sealing engagement between the closure and the container.

8. In a package adapted to be sealed by exhausting the air therefrom, the combination of a containerhaving a sealing zone, a closure having a circumferential dependin portion adapted to fit over the mouth of sai container, and a gasket between said circumferential depending portion of the closure and the container, the central portion of said closure being flexed below the upper end of the container wall and into said container under the influence of atmospheric pressure when the vacuum is maintained in said container to draw a part of said depending portion over the mouth of the container and thereby seat said gasket tightly against the sealing zone to form a hermetic seal between the container and the closure.

' WILLIAM P. WHITE. 

